The Myth Of A Latin Woman Analysis

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Are Stereotypes Preventing Self Identity? Today some people have to go through a daily struggle because of the color of their skin. In the article “The Myth of a Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria” by Judith Ortiz Cofer she tells her story of her struggles as a young Puerto Rican woman growing up. In her life she was be trying to prove people wrong, to make then second guess themselves about Puerto Rican Women. Another article that talks about racial stereotypes is “Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space” by Brent Staples who talks about his struggle of being a black man in the big city of Chicago. Do racial stereotypes prevent identity formation? They do because in both of these stories the authors are both overshadowed by silent …show more content…

Her reaction was “…I was not quite as amused, I managed my version of an English smile: no show of teeth, no extreme contortions of the facial muscles.” (Cofer 103). Right away she shows that she has conformed to society hindering identity. This was not the first time that she has had to deal with these problems. She explains her culture as a young girl that she “was kept under strict surveillance, since a virtue and modesty, by cultural equation, the same as family honor” (Cofer 103). This caused problems when she was invited to parties because when she would appear at her friend’s house she would be “…wearing a dress more suitable for a semiformal event than to a playroom birthday celebration.” (Cofer 104). Cofer would later say that she felt “a vague sense of letdown when she is invited to a ‘party’.” (Cofer 104) this affects her confidence to be with other children and because of this she would try even harder to conform hindering her self-identity. Cofer uses an personal anecdote to show another stereo types against Puerto Rican women. She has a friend that made a comment that at the business school that her friend went to “Puerto Rican girls always stood out for wearing ‘everything at once’.” (Cofer 104) Cofer says this is a problem when it comes for these women to getting jobs “…where prospective employers and men on the street would often misinterpret our tight skirts and jingling bracelets as a come-on.” (Cofen 106) because of her culture men do not take her seriously. Others compares, Latin girls to fruits and vegetables. For example “Latin girls were supposed to mature early’-my first instance of being thought of as a fruit and vegetables-I was supposed to ripen, not just grow into womanhood like other girls.” (Cofer 106) These girls’ parents pressure them to grow up unlike the way Cofer would think of how to grow up. This does not help a person try to identify

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